SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Five people are dead, including three children, after a man opened fire inside a Sacramento-area church Monday night before turning the gun on himself.
The 39-year-old gunman, who was the father of the children, then shot and killed himself inside the church, where a supervised visit was to take place.
The three girls killed were 9, 10 and 13, said Sgt. Rodney Grassmann, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. “This was not a random shooting,” he said, adding that the shooter and victims “all knew each other.”
Sheriff Scott Jones told reporters at the scene that the mother was not involved in the incident and was talking with authorities. Jones said the mother had a restraining order against the father.
Authorities said a fourth person, an adult who was supervising the visit, was shot and killed, but Jones said it was unclear whether the victim was a church employee or a social worker.
“The shooter came in and — what appears to be — killed the person who was supervising the visit, killed his own three children and then turned the gun on himself,” Jones said.
The shooting happened just after 5 p.m. at The Church in Sacramento on the 2000 block of Wyda Way. A church employee, who was working upstairs, heard gunshots and called 911.
“They said they heard a shot and then additional shots — (the employee) left the building,” Grassmann said.
Grassmann said the shooting was over in a matter of minutes before deputies arrived.
Police cordoned off the neighborhood around the Arden Arcade church, several blocks north of Arden Fair mall. The church is about a hundred yards east of Sacramento city limits adjacent to the Swanston Estates neighborhood.
Grassmann said he expected investigators to be at the scene for the rest of the night.
‘THIS GUY KILLED HIS KIDS. THIS HURTS SO BAD’
Sandi Davis lives in a small apartment complex down the street from The Church. She was walking out of her apartment with her dog when she heard five to six gunshots. She ducked and laid on the ground while screaming for her neighbor, telling him shots had been fired.
Davis said she was saddened and alarmed after learning Monday’s shooting involved a father shooting his three children.
“This isn’t the answer,” Davis said. “This guy killed his kids. This hurts so bad. Children are innocent, they didn’t have a chance at life.”
She said The Church offers help to people in the neighborhood, including people who are not members of the church.
Davis lost her husband two years ago when he was killed in a hit-and-run collision. The church pastor made sure congregation members brought her food as she struggled with grief, and she said the pastor leaves out food atop a mailbox for anyone who might be hungry.
“My sister was killed due to domestic violence,” Davis said. “This is senseless, domestic violence has got to stop. They were supposed to meet over there in a safe haven.”
‘ANOTHER TRAGEDY THAT’S HARD TO UNDERSTAND’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom weighed in just after the shooting on Twitter, saying, “Another senseless act of gun violence in America — this time in our backyard. In a church with kids inside. Absolutely devastating.”
Interim Sacramento Kings coach Alvin Gentry opened his postgame news conference with somber remarks about the shooting following a road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.
“We just got the news here of what happened in Sacramento with the church shooting and … some young people there,” Gentry said. “Our hearts and our prayers go out to the family and everybody involved in that. It’s just another tragedy that’s hard to understand. It’s almost impossible to comprehend.
“We just want the families and everyone to know that we’ll be praying for them for the rest of the night and the rest of the year, and we’ll keep them in our prayers. It’s just such a tragic thing, especially when kids are losing their lives in a situation like that.”
The Bee’s Sam Stanton, Jason Anderson and Paul Kitagaki Jr. contributed to this story.
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